Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-10-18
DAILY HERALD.
POLITICAL ORATORS.
Statesmen Noted as Powerful
stump Speakers.

would have gone down into ltS Dank
account could it have secured a stump
orator like the late Senator Nye. This
gifted man was tower of strength to
the Republican managers. He would
bring 10 the farmers. through rain
and knee-deep mud, for many miles.
and the hall could never be found big
enough to hold all who wanted to
hear him. His humor, sarcasm, an
ecdote, pathos and sccrching invective
found their great field and stimulus
on the stump, and men could never
tell whether they had been listening
to him for minutes or hours.
President Lincoln was regarded as
a stump speaker of remarkable power
long before he came into mems minds
In connection with the Presidency.
Indeed, many regarded him as the
greatest orator the country has pro-
duced, MIR. Edward Mcpherson being
one OF these. Greatest, they mean, if
the supreme test be in the power of
influencing the hearer. Mr.. Lincoln,
unlike many men of commanding in
fluence on the stump, found his power
not limited to this kind of oratory. 1t
was said of him by an eminent writer
that his remarkable faculty of putting
things, his intellect, capable of the
closest and most subtle analysis, and
the use of language so as to put
his ideas in the clearest and simplest
form gave to his public efforts weight
and influence such as no public man
of this country had ever before at
A. no,,o1nc wifi, Nvl,t,n1 MY.
Lincoln carried on series of joint
public debates that attracted the atten-
tention of the country, was regarded
as one OF the very best stump orators
of his or any time. Gen. Garfield as
an orator at the hustings ranked with
the first in his party. Mr.. Conkling
and Mr.. Blaine are regarded as pos
sessing extraordinary powers OF this
kind, entirely separate from other
qualities of mind that have made
them distinguished.
The tendency to read essays instead
of delivering speeches has become SO
universal in both branches of Congress
that it is rare that a speech of any
length is delivered without the COM
plete Manuscript being before the
speaker. While this results in greater
grace of style, accuracy of expression
and better diction, it is at the cost of
the energy, fire, enthusiasm and hot
emotions that the extempore speech
stimulates. The men most eminent
for their powers of oratory in recent
Congresses, however, have spurned
the use of manuscript. The late SEN
ator Carpenter, whom many regarded
as the most fascinating speaker of re-
cent years in Congress, despised
written speech. He once said he
might as we'll shut himself up
in an iron cage and try to talk
through the bars. He believed in
preparation, but not in prescription.
MIR. Conkling, while in the Senate,
never laid his manuscript open on his
desk. He never read speech, and,
like Mr.. Carpenter, never hesitated
for a word. Yet both of these ora
tors never spoke without thorough
preparation. Mr.. Edmunds seldom
makes long speeches, rarely exceed
ing fifteen minutes. He speaks al
ways extemporaneously, and never
rcvises the stenographer's notes or
proof slips. John Sherman does not
write his speeches; neither does Gen
eral Logan nor Senator Hoar.
The three most voluble Senators,
Beck, Morgan and Plumb, neither
write nor specially prepare their
spec ehes, except to gather the facts.
None of these three, however, makes
any claim to the possession of orator
ical powers, though each is singular
In one respect. Mr.. Plumb is the
most rapid speaker who has been in
the Senate for many years. He and
Sen.,to Beck ars the only men who
ever taxed Mr.. Murphy's power as a
stenographer to the fullest, and nlSnv
think Mr. Murphy is the most rapid
stenographer in the World. Mr..
Plumb's words are emitted with terrific
speed. He sometimes utters as many
as 25O a minute. Mr.. Beck, while
scarcely less rapid, speaks less clearly
than Mr.. Plumb, so that his words
sound just as the posts OF a Virginia
fence look at man sitting at the
window of lightning express. Mr..
Morgan's speech is rapid, flows as con-
tinuously as a running brook, with
much the same pleasantly bubbling
sound. He never prepares or revises
his speeches. They appear in the Rec,
ord precisely as he delivers them, and
vet Mr.. Murphy says that he has
never found in them an error ofgram-
mar or of diction, and that as speci-
mems of pure, classic English they
are not excelled by the speeches of
any Senator. Mr.. Bayard does not
read his speeches but with these
exceptions almost all the others do.
1t did cause his Indiana friends some
astonishment when Mr.. Voorhees,
first unrolled his manuscript, but the
custom is now confirmed with him.
Mr.. Pendleton, whose oratory used to
be q delight to his Ohio friends, now
reads his speeches.
In the long debates upon the tariff
bill in the House, both last winter and |
the session proceeding, with hardly an
exception, the speeches were read from |
manuscript. Speaker Carlisle, two
years ago, Judge Kelly and Mr.. Ran
dali were the only members of promin- |
ence who did not read their speeches. |
The habit has had one effect that is |
inevitable; it gives the speech reader
very slim audiences generally. The |
essays are read in a monotonous and |
almost inaudible tone, and the cases |
where speech that is read is accom-
panied by any of the graces of elocu- J
ton are very rare. Judged by the ac-
cepted standard of oratory, hardly a |
member of Congress who reads his |
speeches can be ranked as an orator.
IN. Y. Sun.